A Baby Story

When I was pregnant and bored at home towards the end, I watched that show on TLC called "A Baby Story" from time to time. I tried not to watch it too much, though because the labor part always scared me! I always ended up crying at the end of each show when the Mommy & Daddy finally met their little one after 9 long months. I also cried when Caleb finally came out of hiding and they put him near my face for the first time...partially because we were finally meeting our little guy...but (if I am being honest) mostly because I was finally done with the whole labor ordeal, ha! Let me see how much I can remember of our "baby story"...

On Thursday, August 13th, I had my 39-week doctor's appointment. I woke up with a weird feeling in my stomach. I really just thought it was nerves because those were definitely kicking in as I knew D-Day was fast approaching! Well we got to the doctor's office and found some of our friends from Sunday school, the Strongs, in the waiting area. She was there for her OB appointment as well. We chatted with them a little bit while we waited and then went into the exam room. When the doctor came in, she asked how I was feeling and I told her how I was feeling weird and my stomach was bothering me. We talked a little about possible dates for induction in the event I didn't go into labor. We were thinking about that Sunday, the 16th. When she finally started my exam, she touched my belly and said "You're having a contraction." I was like "Really?" Yeah, I was. They hooked me up to the monitor thingy and I was having contractions every 3 to 4 minutes. I didn't even know it, but apparently I was in the early stages of labor! So much for Sunday the 16th...she sent us over to the hospital right then to check in! (well actually, we went to Sonic first because Rhett was starving...as was I, but I couldn't eat anything...sheesh!) So anyway, we went to the hospital...

We got there and went to Labor & Delivery to check in. I said I was there to check in and this one nurse was like "for what?"...and I said "Labor?" I mean, what did she think I was there for? haha! No, I think they meant either induction or c-section when they asked "for what?" but it just came off weird. So they put us in a LDR (Labor, Delivery, & Recovery) room and started getting me set up. By this time, it was right about 12pm. I got hooked up to the contraction monitor and also the fetal monitor to hear his heart beat. I was still having contractions on my own about every 3 to 4 minutes, but sometimes I would go much longer before having one. It was not really consistent and they were not painful.

We met with the anesthesiologist to talk about the epidural. He read over my medical records and told us that he had only one space to attempt to place the epidural. The rods in my back go all the way down to the L4 level. Below that is L5 then the Sacral spine. He said that usually they place it above L4 but that he could try it at L5. We knew that there was a possibility that it wouldn't work at all, but I really wanted to try it. (Basically, scar tissue left over from the surgery could prevent the proper absorption and spread of the medication.) He told us that there was a good chance that (if it did work) it would possibly wear off within an hour or two. So his suggestion was that I try to wait as long as possible to get it (at least 7 or 8 cm), so that if it did start to wear off I would hopefully be nearing the end of labor by that time. It was a lot to process. We did decide that I would definitely wait as long as I could before getting it.

My doctor came in around 2:15pm to break my water. That was GROSS. This is probably "TMI" but I felt like I was peeing all over myself. Disgusting. This sped up my contractions maybe just a little, and I went from 4cm to 5cm. Then Dr. Tran said she wanted to start the pitocin. I knew that it would make things more painful, so I asked if we could hold out a little longer...she gave me another hour or so. Nothing really happened in that hour, so sometime between 5pm and 6pm they started the pitocin.

Pitocin sucks. The contractions got really painful after that. Everything I'd heard was true. Beware of pitocin! It did speed things up, though...I probably would have been there even longer if I tried to progress on my own. After the pitocin, I got some IV pain meds to take the edge off. I was fully aware of what was going on, but that at least made me drowsy enough to where I could close my eyes and dose off a little between contractions. I'm not sure how much time elapsed, but I eventually made it to 7cm. My doctor was afraid I was going to get too tired and not be able to push when the time came, so I went ahead and asked for the epidural...

The anesthesiologist came in and did his thing. After a little while, it was evident that it was not fully working because I could still feel all the contractions (but was numb and couldn't feel much where it counted). Luckily, although I could feel the contractions, it worked enough to where they weren't as painful as without the epidural...so that was a good thing. It did start to wear off about an hour or so after he started it, so they gave me a bolus dose. At another point, they did something else to try to help the medicine spread. Apparently, I was a fun little case for the anesthesiologists. Even though it didn't work 100%, I can't even imagine going the rest of the way without anything. Women who give birth naturally are amazing. (or crazy?!) :o)

I finally got to 10cm at around 10:30pm, so it was time to push. My doctor left when the shift changed, so we actually had a different doctor for the delivery (Dr. Thompson). We really liked her, though! At Women's Hospital, they don't let you push much past 2 hours. I pushed for 2 hours and 15 minutes. I will spare you the details on that horrendous experience. Dr. Thompson said Caleb was in a good position to use forceps to assist him in coming out. We were a little leery of this because of the experience Rhett's brother and sis-in-law had with their forceps delivery. However, Dr. Thompson reassured us that she had done a lot of forceps deliveries so we took her recommendation. It was either that or a c-section where I'd have to be completely knocked out, and we were trying to avoid that at all costs. They had to move me to the OR to be ready for a c-sec in the event that the forceps didn't do the trick. Rhett got all spiffed up in his scrubs and met us there after they had me all set up.

I thought we would be at it for a while longer, but surprisingly it happened really fast. I pushed once, and then a second time, then Dr. Thompson worked her forceps magic...and out came Caleb at 1:02am! She did a great job...didn't even leave much of a mark on his sweet little head! They tossed him up on my chest and I was finally able to meet my little boy...and touch his slimey body! Someone thrust the scissors at Daddy and asked if he wanted to cut the cord. (beforehand, he said that he wasn't going to). Rhett said he felt a little pressured as they swiftly shoved the scissors at him...so he did it. Good job, Daddy!

By the time they stitched me up (had an epesiotomy and I still tore) and moved us back to our LDR room, it was probably close to 2am. Then they brought Caleb to us for about an hour to breastfeed and spend time with him. It was getting so late (or early, depending on how you look at it) that our family did not get to meet him that night. There was just too much going on and not enough time for introductions, so everyone went home and came back the next day. After LDR, they took him to the transitional nursery for testing and observation for another 4-6 hours, give or take. He ended up having to stay a little longer than usual because he had some trouble regulating his body temperature (too low) and his glucose went down, so by the time we saw him again I think it was around 8 or 9am. (he was fine by this time).

Friday went by in a blur and was really crazy. If you came to visit and I fell asleep while talking to you, I apologize!! I was on demerol for pain from my epesiotomy, so I was quite loopy. I remember family and friends coming to visit, but I don't remember many details. I was so tired. Not to mention, we had only had a few hours of sleep since Thursday morning. We did take the recommendation from several friends to send him to the nursery at night between feedings...so Saturday was much better. We were still tired, but not nearly as out of it...plus, I got my epidural (with the demerol) out, so I wasn't so drugged up anymore. Sunday, we were discharged to go home with our little man...and it has been pure bliss ever since! :o) (and by bliss, I mean exhaustion! ha!)

I will do a separate post with pictures next, so stay tuned!